Friday, May 06, 2011

Stephen Hawking sez:

Posted by Mickey Z on 05/06 at 08:19 AM

  2. Good morning all…

    Nice photo - how can anyone not love a tree… Mine are nearing full bloom - plum blossoms, apple blossoms, pear blossoms… and my favorite the lilacs.

    The poems said what I have been saying.  It is remarkable that so many in the US don’t understand how the violation of the Rule of Law and concepts of justice are violated every time the US assassinates anyone. Michele is right - today Bin Laden, tomorrow your neighbor, the next day maybe you.  Can you imagine what it would feel like to be a child who witnesses their father, an unarmed man in his own home, being assassinated. The photos and tapes should be immediately turned over to the Bin Laden family and then hopefully to the International Criminal Court. Nuremberg Style Trials are called for. And remember...the US admitted that it was responsible for the deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children - and then said that the deaths ‘were worth it’.  Was 9/11 Blowback or was it Justice since it was a CIA location and therefore a military target???  The best way to honor the innocent victims of 9/11 would be to force a change in US foreign policy and also to eliminate military installations from civilian areas.

    Posted by RMJ from Ward Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts  on  05/06  at  09:42 AM

  3. I agree all around, RMJ. And btw, I got your note and will be mailing the book ASAP. Thanks so much.

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  05/06  at  10:02 AM

  4. I wonder if those 500,000 plus under 5 year old Iraqis that the US/UK managed to kill...I wonder if they’d been kids from the US or UK whether your average citizen might have heard of it.(no need for a question mark)

    I’ve never known anyone outside of political circles to know that we had sanctions, let alone that people quit from the UN saying we were being “genocidal”.
    Would anyone that voted for the Governments that carried out that policy take any responsibility? Would they stop commenting that people died for our right to vote for these people? In Britain it was a Conservative, then a Labour government that did it.

    Posted by Rick (the Cartoonist) from England  on  05/06  at  12:02 PM

  5. Hello everyone...An hour ago I bumped into an old friend who said, “americans have no sense of outrage”.

    I have spoken to people who are afraid of anger. My question is, who’s anger are they afraid of, why deny a real emotion?

    Too much anger is not healthy, but there is nothing wrong, in my opinion with having some passion in your voice. Perhaps it’s relative to the diversity and quantity of people experienced.

    I wonder how the average american citizen would react to shootouts in their living room. Would they ask the gunmen if they have had their dinner yet? Few people could be that calm.

    Posted by Joe of Maine from The Window  on  05/06  at  12:29 PM

  6. The system just zapped my comment- or maybe it wanted me to comment now when captcha says ‘justice’.

    Rick...If I had the money I would put the information about the 500,000 killed children up on billboards. That is info that will never make it into US textbooks.

    Joe...Tell your friend that you have another friend in Vermont who has felt outrage since we started bombing in 1991… Actually before that.  As I said in Court we should be outraged about much that the USA has done since 1492. I don’t know what the judge thought about my speech but sometimes when I think about it I feel sorry for him.

    Posted by RMJ from Ward Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts  on  05/06  at  01:42 PM

  7. The outrage is growing…
    Now being reported that the USA just killed 17 unarmed civilians with drones. The unarmed civilians were protesting the illegal assassination of Bin Laden.

    Cowards, sitting behind computer screens thousands of miles away from any danger, killing citizens in another country.  Wearing a uniform might make a fashion statement, but it never gives anyone the right to kill civilians.

    Posted by RMJ from Ward Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts  on  05/06  at  02:10 PM

  8. Hello all on a truly historic day for scotland. Piece by piece we are getting there as I have always maintained.

    Go here if you don’t know what I am tlking about.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-13305522

    If you want to help us out even in the tiniest of ways, please stop referring to the UK as “England” and educate people as to the difference between england, scotland and the dying political beast that is/was the UK.

    I explained it all a few years ago in plain words…

    http://bit.ly/kydd8s

    Posted by Michael from not scotland  on  05/06  at  03:58 PM

  9. Michael...what exactly does this mean about Scotland’s political relationship to england at this moment before any further votes?

    I apologize if I’m a stupid american with this question.

    Posted by Joe of Maine from The Window  on  05/06  at  04:42 PM

  10. This means that the Independence party (the SNP) have complete control of the SCOTTISH parliament, not the UK one (you should really think of the UK as having always been an early version of the European Union instead of one complete country).

    The SNP were the largest party before this election but did not have a complete majority and this meant that they could not get a referendum on independence on the table because they had to be in coalition.

    in this coalition in the last few years they saved in scotland things like free university education (which england lost), the health service (which england is losing) and any number of other things.

    This means that there will be a referendum in the course of this parliament for full 100% scottish independence. We already have and always have had our own legal and education systems and so forth. Full independence would break up the military and foreign policies and some economic policies which are controlled from London 99% of the time to the detriment of Scotland.

    You must also know that the BBC and the UK media is all english owned and vociferously anti-scottish independence. Imagine that EVERY channel was like Fox on this specific issue. In spite of all of that, Scotland has returned this result.

    We just want to look after our own house thnks very much. We did for 700 years before it was robbed from us. We want it back. We never stopped wanting it back.

    the next steps won’t be easy because powerful people do not want the break up of the union, they have too much money to lose.

    but we are getting there.

    Posted by Michael from not scotland  on  05/06  at  04:57 PM

  11. “Work as if you in the early days of a better nation”

    Scottish Writer, Alasdair Gray

    Posted by Michael from not scotland  on  05/06  at  05:02 PM

  12. Thanks Michael...I ‘hope’ England, the u.s. don’t find OBL’s in Scotland or commit terror attacks to discourage.

    I’ve already shared the news of Scotland with locals or loco’s, I don’t know which anymore.

    As you know, Vermont wants to secede from the u.s. From my experiences, Vermont gets little support and people from outside of Vermont think their weird. As Thomas Naylor responds to this, “why go down with a sinking ship if there are other possibilities”...americans being ‘what’ they are, don’t know the ship is already on the bottom.

    Posted by Joe of Maine from The Window  on  05/06  at  05:17 PM

  13. good luck to vermont, really, but i would reject the comparison if you are making one.

    Vermont was not an independent nation for 100s of years before the US came into being.

    Posted by Michael from not scotland  on  05/06  at  05:20 PM

  14. Hi Michael, the only comparison, Vermont wants to be independent as well. They claim they were once independent of what was a central governing body in the 1700’s, they want to be independent of washington again. ‘They’ meaning a small group of people, however the numbers are growing, but for me, too slowly.

    This group has done their homework for be self-sustaining as well as trying to build relationships with other countries. I as of this time do not know their progress.

    What do you think will be England’s strategy to perhaps undermine Scotland?

    Posted by Joe of Maine from The Window  on  05/06  at  05:54 PM

  15. everything from surreptitios press stories to targeted assassination.

    Posted by Michael from not scotland  on  05/06  at  05:57 PM

  16. that is what they have done in the past anyway.

    Posted by Michael from not scotland  on  05/06  at  05:59 PM

  17. Actually mass slaughter in the past (including many times after we had the supposed union) as well but they probably wouldnt get away with that one now.

    Posted by Michael from not scotland  on  05/06  at  06:01 PM

  18. I think Scottish Independence had better hopes before the Recession. I understood the SNP wanted to emulate the Irish economic boom...but Ireland’s crashed into bail-out territory now and the Euro doesn’t look so good to join at the moment either.

    The SNP will probably try to wait for the global economy to pick up, then reduce Scottish taxes. In a newly booming economy, as a tax haven, the Scottish economy will do well..then they’d call a Referendum.

    That’s my prediction.

    Scottish Independence is a queston for the people who live there (seems to obvious to say). Same thing with Northern Ireland. If the UK/GB had been set up under nicer circumstances it would be more agreeable to stay as a group.

    The Liberal Democrat Party were always the overflow pipe of the two biggest Parties (Labour and Conservative). Almost a protest vote as they could say what they liked and not have to prove any convictions. When they joined the Coalition they showed their true colours (or got “duped” if you’re naive), their voters deserted them.

    Posted by Rick (the Cartoonist) from England  on  05/07  at  06:02 AM

  19. Rick, 17, Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine builds navy war ships.

    A new missile cruiser is being launched today. There was a protest of the war ship and all the money going to war.

    I stood with the protestors..., and I realized I didn’t belong on either side of the fence.

    Posted by Joe of Maine from The Window  on  05/07  at  10:30 AM

  20. It’s amazing how attacking a foreign country can create such a low murmur compared to potholes in the roads or a waste of money on something.

    In the UK the politicians who started illegal wars..some of them were kicked out of office...for fiddling their expenses! Lesser evils are all most people can see.

    captcha says “looking”

    Posted by Rick (the Cartoonist) from England  on  05/07  at  11:49 AM

  21. Hi Rick, Mickey and all…
    Joe...the secessionist movement in Vermont is unknown to most Vermonters.  I often mention it and the reaction is interesting - disbelief. The culture of Vermont discourages any individual or critical thinking. To be a ‘good Vermonter’ you don’t question the ol’ boys network - locally or in Montpelier.
    I watched the champagne bottle as it was smashed on the death ship in Bath.  The U$A has way too much money (for the wrong things).

    Michael...Most in the US don’t know about US history let alone the history of any other country. Most of our textbooks are produced in Texas. They are mostly propaganda because propaganda sells and truth doesn’t. I had a recent conversation with an adult who had gone through the local educational system. He said Atlantic City is a State and he was planning to go deep sea fishing in Pennsylvania which is located on the Atlantic coast. True…

    Posted by RMJ from Ward Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts  on  05/08  at  09:53 AM

  22. RMJ 20, Apparently the u.s. is imposing their destroyers on the people of some small island off the coast of South Korea. I don’t doubt this island will become a u.s. naval base.

    500 years and the only thing we have done is murder life in its many forms.

    Yesterday some clown said, people had to die so we could protest. If this comment had been recorded and played back for him to hear, I wonder how long it would have taken him to ‘spin around’? Freedom is certainly a twisted concept.

    Shall we continue to march in place in quick sand?

    Posted by Joe Of Maine from The Window  on  05/08  at  02:52 PM

  23. RMJ...when I regularly brought up the Vermont Secession movement to the local...? peace group..., they laughed or frowned about it. At least there is a small population in Vermont who do not want to be part of the central warring dictatorship and who are willing to consider something else. Most Mainer’s I have talked to about this don’t want to think can’t imagine another possibility.

    Posted by Joe of Maine from The Window  on  05/08  at  03:14 PM

  24. Good morning, all you expendables from this Australian expendable - on a wet Monday morning in Daylesford.

    Beautiful photo, great quote and an interesting poem - what’s not to like on this blog?  Then there are all the comments.

    All best,
    Helga

    Posted by Helga from Daylesford, Australia  on  05/08  at  05:30 PM

  25. Thanks, Helga. FYI: A new post is up with an interview with yours truly.

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  05/08  at  05:35 PM

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